What would you rate to be the Top 5 Strongest Riser Timbers ?
Likely IPE will top the list for strength.
i reckon our ironbark would be amongst the strongest lyonel.
Ipe is strong stuff, but I'm not sure if I've ever seen a riser made out of it. That stuff made my bandsaw blade spark.
Black Widow's Ironwood riser is laminated Ipe.
Heavy, strong but a little brittle.
Mike
Osage has to be in there
Ebony
Lignum vitae is very strong and very hard, the used to make propeller shafts out of it. I think it was recently listed though.
How do some of the commonly used timbers used rate like Bacote, Zebra wood, Curly Maple, Wenge, Cocabola, Bubinga & others?
Wingnut, very interesting never knew Ironwood was another name for Ipe. Always learning from the GANG!
Ipe's very dense. It's Janka density rating is on the top of the list.
Darren
Denisty is only one criterion. The heavy checking of ebony ond some of the other dense woods is counterproductive to it being considered one of the strongest. In fact i not use a lot of the ebonys except for accents because of this. I would almost guarantee
Gabon ebony to check.
Eastern Hard rock maple is extremely good riser wood. Especially if you want a strong but light in physical weight bow.
Good Paradox and Claro and English Walnut are exceptional riser woods.
Ipe is super strong but Not very pretty . Tiger Wood is exceptional and possibly one of the most underused of really exceptional and strong woods.
Lyonel it has been my finding that although some of the dense woods are exceptionally stiff and strong that many of them cannot handle flex as well as some like maple and that they will over time compression crack and check and eventually may even break where a more flexible wood will notg.
There are very legitimate reasons some bowyers such as black Widow as an example add a lot of heavy phenolic and glass to their risers. I concur with their reasoning and do same.
If I were to build a bow of any wood that I really had to trust and beauty had no part in it I would probably use Ipe.
God bless you, Steve
Purpleheart and Bubinga are two of the hardest riser woods I work with. Chad
Agrees with Chad. Purple heart and bubinga are super. I forgot bubinga for some reason but personally would use it over even IPE. Bubinga is so hard and strong it is unreal.
Tiger wood and goncalvo alves are same wood.
One is the scientific and the other the common name/
God bless you all,
Steve
Lignum vitae was used as bearings for propellor shafts, not for the shafts. The oiliness and density of the wood lent itself admirably for the task, and because it is so heavy In mass, makes for a hefty riser.
Killdeer
Probably the top three wood be the aluminae metallicus, the curly G10 phenolicallie, and the carbonicus nanofushica. All strong, but butt ugly!
I was going to add bubinga but see it already has been.Very good and nice looking bow wood.
John Morris and son used Bolivian Rosewood for their risers...Rocky Mountain Recurves.
I have heard that Lignum vitae has some natural waxes in the wood that makes it harder to get a strong glue joint. I have not worked with it myself.
I have a huge stash of Bolivian Rosewood but have not built tons of bows with it yet. It is good strong wood though and very beautiful.
God bless you all, Steve
I wonder if Mopane (sp ?) has ever been used for a bow, Read a story once about a professional hunter that was stranded in the bush after breaking a drive shaft. He fashioned one out of Mopane and it allowed him to drve the 60 miles or so to the hunting camp, it must be pretty strong to use as a driveshafdt for a landcruiser.
How about cocobolo? I see alot of bows made from it.
What about hickory or ash?
How do wenge & bacote rate?
How do wenge & bacote rate?
And osage as a riser wood?
F-Manny
Havnt used it yet but I have some 8 year old rough cut cocobolo boards.. I cut into one and sliced off a thin piece, it is very stiff and strong.. Checked the MC last night, its good to go..
I think that Black Widow's "Ironwood" is what we locally call "Hophornbeam" -- Ipe comes from South America I think.
QuoteOriginally posted by owlbait:
What about hickory or ash?
Hickory is exceptionally strong.
Density only tells part of the story of a woods strength.
A fiber structure and its elasticity play very big roles in a woods strength. Few woods can out perform hickory if you use air dried material.
Pecan is classified with/same as hickory when it is graded and can be very attractive, often with black/brown flecks in the wood that really can be beautiful.
Joshua
Bacote andWenge are very good riser woods. for various reasons I would not grade either in the top 5 although bacote would ve very close.
However all of this is subjective and speaks more to personal taste and experiences with various woods. The best woods in strength are probably not the most desireable beauty wise ect.
The strongest riser wood is probably phenolic.
God bless you, Steve